Top Democrat: Hillary Clinton Would “Clear The Field” In 2016 [View all]

O'Malley, Cuomo, and Biden would all make way, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer predicts. “I don't know that anybody would run against Hillary.”

Ruby Cramer
BuzzFeed Staff

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer predicted Tuesday that Hillary Clinton would "clear the field" of potential Democratic rivals for the 2016 presidential nomination were she to throw her hat in the ring, deterring runs for the White House from Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and even Vice President Joe Biden.

"I don't know that anybody would run against Hillary," Hoyer said in an interview with BuzzFeed. "If she runs, she clears the field. If she doesn't run, I think Cuomo is a leading candidate and O'Malley is a leading candidate."

Asked if he believed Biden was considering a run — the vice president joked last year that 2012 wouldn't be the last time he voted for himself — Hoyer said, "I think Joe is really thinking hard about running. If Hillary doesn't run, Joe will run. I don't know that Joe runs against Hillary, though."

In a Democratic field without the former Secretary State, said Hoyer, O'Malley would emerge as a potential frontrunner whose success with progressive ballot measures — voters in the state passed both marriage equality and the Maryland DREAM Act last year — would make him an attractive candidate to the party's base.